The problem facing humanity today—especially those taking to the streets in protest—is an economic system that encourages and rewards greed, says the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. And leaders who tell us to look elsewhere are merely creating distractions.

Our civil liberties and First Amendment rights are threatened by the Supreme Court’s decisions in the Julian Assange case; if Mitt Romney’s father was still around, he’d probably endorse Obama; meanwhile, Fox News is ruining the GOP. These discoveries and more after the jump.

Slovenian madman and intellectual hero Slavoj Zizek treated protesters encamped at New York City’s Liberty Plaza to a rousing pep talk Sunday in which he confessed his fear that the Occupy Wall Street movement could devolve into a mere opportunity for youthful memory-making. (more)

We spurn real teachers—those with the capacity to inspire—and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests. These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point.

Christopher Nolan’s epic and ambitious new blockbuster is a fascinating, skillfully made brain twister that gives Philip K. Dick a run for his existential money. But at the core of Nolan’s film is a troubling idea that won’t go away. (Spoilers!)

Was Socrates an atheist, a guru to a strange sect and an elitist corrupting the youth of a democratic Athens defeated in the Peloponnesian War, as his accusers successfully charged? A new book by Robin Waterfield seeks to dispel the myths about “Why Socrates Died.”

If you thought your air travel experiences have been nightmarish recently, chances are they’re not as bad as the daily goings-on at Prague’s Franz Kafka International Airport—a fictional (or is it?) hub of despair in which the word terminal takes on a much more angst-ridden meaning.

Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. They have no concept, thanks to the educations they have received, of the common good.

The BBC takes a look at the philosophy of the show: “It’s not that the Simpsons is atheist propaganda; its main target is not belief in God or the supernatural, but the arrogance of particular organised religions that they, amazingly, know the will of the creator.”

The best-selling author of “The End of Faith” talks about the way to navigate a dinner party without coming off as the Antichrist; about the “Salman Rushdie effect” that accompanies his newfound celebrity as America’s most prominent atheist; and about the new secular foundation he is founding.